Connections to electronic data communication equipment such as circuit boards in computers, network interfaces, routers and the like, are conventionally made using electrical connectors. In this regard, it has become common practice to utilize standard RJ-type telephone plugs and jacks, and standard telephone wiring, to interconnect data communications equipment. It has become similarly common to use other standard types of electrical connectors in data communications applications, such as 9-pin, 15-pin or 25-pin D-subminiature connectors. Consequently, manufacturers of data processing equipment have designed the circuit boards and physical layout of their products to accommodate these types of connectors.
Developments in data communications, however, have made it desirable to replace the electrical cabling with fiber optic cabling, so that signals can be sent between pieces of equipment as light on the fiber optic cabling, rather than as electrical signals on electrical conductors.